


there's a sweet eternal song (i hope the words are pretty)

by shafferthefirst



Series: princess of the playground [4]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Baby Fic, Family, Fluff, Gen, Grandma May, Team Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-13
Updated: 2015-05-13
Packaged: 2018-03-30 09:36:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3931963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shafferthefirst/pseuds/shafferthefirst
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The team has their own ideas of what Peggy's first word should be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	there's a sweet eternal song (i hope the words are pretty)

**Author's Note:**

> YO bear in mind this does not follow the repercussions of the finale last night, the whole series was thought of way beforehand, hence why Trip is alive and Ward is at the playground. In my world everything is cotton candy and rainbows because that's what we need right now.
> 
> Title is from "Baby Girl" by Will Hoge.

As anyone could have predicted, Margaret Jane Fitz-Simmons hit most of her first year milestones fairly early. 

Smiling: six weeks, up at her daddy while he played with her toes.

Laughing: fourteen weeks, at Bobbi smacking Lance with a dishtowel when he swore in front of the infant. 

Sitting up: five months, while her parents bickered and she decided to give them a reason to pay attention to her every move.

Crawling: six months, across the floor to an overly excited Grandpa when no one happened to be around let alone believe him until they saw for themselves.

Walking: eight months, very surprisingly to an unsuspecting Ward on the couch; the rest of the ensemble froze for a solid thirty seconds until the little one’s innocent giggle thawed them.

Talking, however, was taking a little longer. And every member of the team was determined to nudge the young prodigy into saying what he or she wanted.

 

* * *

 

 

(“Say _Aunt Skye_ , Peggy, say _Aunt Skye_!” the hacker cooed, tickling her tiny tummy on the couch while she giggled.

“That’s far too many syllables for her to say for her age _period_ , let alone her first words,” Jemma informed her without looking up from her lab notes she was scanning over. Skye scowled.

“Say _killjoy_ , Peggy, say _killjoy_!” Jemma rolled her eyes. “Come on, you’re not even a tiny bit concerned that she hasn’t said her first word yet? She’s over a year!”

“Her birthday was _last week_ , Skye. And every baby is different. She makes lots of sounds and responds to mental stimulation; she’ll talk when she’s ready.”

Skye mumbled _killjoy_  again under her breath and returned to her task. “ _Skye_ , say _Skye_.”

“Besides,” she said, strolling over, “I believe  _Mum_ is definitely a more suitable first word.” She planted a kiss into Peggy’s curls and chuckled when she tilted her head back in the air, to return the gesture, but softly plopped on the armrest instead. “My silly girl.”) 

 

* * *

 

(“Hunter, I swear to god if that is my child’s first word, it will be your last.”

“But come on, you’ve _got_ to admit it would be funny to hear in her voice.” 

“I said _no_.”)

* * *

 

(“I _knew_ it!” Trip laughed, startling the life out of the director. “You’re just as bad as us trying to get her to say what you want her to!”

He glanced down at Peggy grinning in his lap and back up at the agent. “In my defense, it’s one hundred times more possible for her to say _cap_ than _howling commandos._ ” 

“At least we’re trying to get something out of her namesake.”)

 

* * *

 

(Skye swung her legs over the barstool after pouring Peggy a few cheerios in her high chair and rested her chin in her hands. “I just don’t get it. Why won’t she say anything?”

“This is really killing you, isn’t it?” Bobbi snickered.

“Yes! It is!” She turned to the child next to her. “Your communication skills are far from on point, my dear.”

“Do you remember what her parents were like before her?” May said softly, putting a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll be lucky if we get anything on her mind out of her within the next _year._ But it is entertaining to watch you kids try to dictate what she says.” 

The hacker sighed and bumped her head against hers as Bobbi cooed her own name to Peggy, to which she replied with a mouthful of sticky cheerio fingers.)

 

* * *

 

She didn't expect any company after giving her girls the morning off, so May was moderately, but pleasantly, surprised to hear the littlest agent babbling about during her morning stretches without the company of her mother. She opened one eye and cracked a smile when she found Peggy and her six teeth and big brown eyes and fuzzy curls beaming up at her from the mat, pressing a chubby hand against her leg.

Peggy had always been fond of Melinda, being the first member of the team she laid eyes on outside of her parents and all. But there was always something about the older woman that drew her in. Something about watching her never failed to leave the child in awe, which was why she often accompanied Jemma during her and Skye's tai chi sessions.

"Hi there," she said, bringing her outstretched arms down from their hold. She rested them on her hips. "Can I help you?"

Holding out her own little limbs, Peggy wrapped them around her leg and said, loud and clear, _"May."_

Okay, that caught her off guard. 

She peered down at her, blinked a few times. "What was that?"

"May," she repeated. 

She gestured to herself. "May?"

Peggy giggled, finding serious amusement in their new game as well as her bewildered expression. "May!" 

"That was your first word," she breathed. Incredibly touched, she swept the little girl up in her arms and hugged her close, rocking a bit. A light bulb went off in her head as she pulled her back and she smirked.

"Peggy, who am I?" She pointed to her chin.

" _May_ ," she laughed like it was an absurd question. _Obviously_ you'reMay; who _else_ would you be.

"That's right!" she bounced her on her hip and tickled her neck. "I have an idea. You want to freak out Mommy and Daddy and the rest of the team?" Peggy blew a raspberry. "Of course you do." 

She carried her down the hall and into the kitchen, where Fitz was pacing while Jemma stirred her tea and the rest of the team groggily ate their breakfast. 

" _There_ she is!" Jemma exclaimed, opening her arms and allowing May to deposit her daughter into them. 

Fitz let out a relieved sigh. "Thank _God,_ Jemma was so worried-"

" _I_ was so worried? _You_ were the one minutes away from sending out a distress signal-"

"-worried sick, thinking our child was bloody taken right under our noses-"

"-telling everyone all across the states that our daughter was missing-"

"-when in fact if _someone_ hadn't left our door cracked-" 

"-but if _someone_ had Peggy proofed the crib like they were _supposed_ to-"

"-we wouldn't even be in this mess!" they finished simultaneously.

"GUYS!" everyone snapped in unison. It was far too early to try and decipher their unintelligible squabble of the day. _Any time_ was too early to try and decipher their unintelligible squabble of the day.

May spoke up after pouring herself her second cup of tea. “I’ve been thinking. I know I haven’t been a part of the ongoing game all of you have participated in, but I think I might.” 

“Oh?” Coulson asked.

“That is, if we make it interesting.”

Sitting up a little straighter, Skye raised an eyebrow. “So what are your terms, my wonderful S.O.?”

She smiled slyly. “We should bet on what Peggy’s first word is. And everyone owes whoever wins twenty.”

Lance jumped up. “Double it.” He glanced around at the mixed expressions across the table. “What? She said we should make it interesting.”

“Any objections? Okay, it’s on.”

The former mercenary placed his arms behind his head. “You’re all going down.”

“In your dreams,” Bobbi snapped.

“Well…” he shrunk in his seat from the red hot glares around him. “KIDDING. Kidding. Moving on.”

After everyone but Melinda established their word of choice, she made eye contact with the baby playing with her mother’s hair and smiled. “I think her first word will be…” She tapped her chin.

_“MAY.”_

May fought back the urge to laugh at her little family exchanging glances before her. Instead, she strolled over to the snot mouth himself and held out her hand. “That’ll be forty.”


End file.
